I set up a Dropbox version of Descent 2, then added Vertigo on to it. Everything worked fine until I chose -nohighres, at which point the game wouldn't run the levels, since it lacked briefing screen files (arcan01.pcx to arcan05.pcx). In high res mode the briefings ran just fine, as the files required ended with b (arcan01b.pcx etc). But the thing is, when playing Vertigo in Rebirth, these files aren't required at all, and briefings run anyway! Also, the files contain different graphics than the ones displayed in Rebirth. For example this quite beautiful shot of the Shiva station.

I checked the installation files again and these files were on the regular Descent 2 CD, within Descent2.SOW. I copied them manually along iwth the rest of the files Weird that these files find literally no use in original Descent 2, yet Vertigo requires them to run for some reason. Also there are no low-res equivalents of these files, which makes it impossible to play Vertigo in the dos installation folder without these files and with -nohighres set upon launch. And yet in Rebirth these files aren't at all required. Could someone explain what's the deal with that?

I tried installing both games from scratch using the actual installer, rather than doing it manually. The "arcan" PCX files weren't copied over from the Descent 2. SOW and after installing Vertigo, it now doesn't use the "arcanB" files and instead displays hi-res screens from within d2x.HOG. However, when -nohighres is set, it still demands arcan01.pcx, since Vertigo apparently didn't contain 320x240 versions of its briefing screens. These files are nowhere to be found on either of the CDs. Are they available anywhere? Or should I create them myself by downsizing the existing arcanB files?

Also, why would those files be on a Descent 2 1.1 installation CD, when they're only needed for Vertigo? I know the CDs were in a bundle, but both were only like half-filled, so I see no good reason why these files wouldn't be on Vertigo's CD. Perhaps due to being redundant?